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Alden "Evoke" Mixing Tips (PT.1)
By Alden Evóke Original Post '' ''"Here's a few mix tips that I learned semi-recently that have really helped my overall sound and understanding. There are 3 major areas in the frequency spectrum where mix issues occur." 1'.0 End' The first (and most talked about) is the low end. There are some very easy ways to know if your low end is going to sound good. For what it's worth, I mix on laptop speakers, so I have very little idea of what my low end actually "sounds" like, but the good news is that subs are less of an art and more of a science. Factually, the sound that will move the most air relative to its volume is a pure sine wave. Compression does not make your sub move more air relative to its volume, and so is effectively useless, as a pure sine-wave does not fluctuate in volume by itself unless more effects are applied, and–as mentioned before–you should not apply effects to your sub, as any effect is going to change your sub to something that is not a pure sine-wave, and is thus more or less pointless. If you want to get the volume of your sub just right, use a spectral analyzer like Voxengo SPAN 1.5 End With subs out of the way, it's now time to work on the 150-300hz range. This is where most of your sub's actual presence in the mix comes from. If you want to make an 808, the best way to make this section of frequency is to take the sine you're using for your sub, and make a new channel that's high-passed above the meat of the sub, then use compression or distortion or any other harmonic-introducing effects to add in more audible sounds. There are several other ways to work in this range. Culpratechooses to duplicate his sub an octave higher and crank the "Spread" up to 100%. It is in this range that you have a bit more play room as an artist to add character to your sub, but again I can't stress enough that below 150hz, nothing will be more effective at being a sub than a sine wave. As an aside, any time-stretching will RUIN this frequency range, as well as your sub, so if you're planning on time-stretching a bass for a certain effect, make sure you layer something specifically in this range to compensate for the damage that time stretching causes. I never time stretch for this reason. 2.0 Mids From 300hz to 700hz is where I most often see semi experienced producers failing to give enough content in their tracks. The ear does not naturally focus on elements in this range. Instead, our natural tendency is to focus on the upper mids, the bass, and the highs. However, "warmth" in a track is drawn from dedicated elements in the 300-700hz range What I mean when I say "dedicated elements" is that most of my current tracks have at least one key, pad, or midbass sound that is explicitly designed to sound good in this range. Often times those sounds are lowpassed and highpassed around this frequency range so that they don't bleed over into other more prominent elements of the track, particularly vocals. Most producers who I have known to start deliberately creating or mixing elements for this frequency range have seen their mixes improve dramatically. Don't neglect the warmth of your track, or you'll find yourself struggling to give your productions any weight. 2.5 Mids Many snares are weighted in this same range, meaning that the meat (the part of the snare that you can feel shaking your chest in a live setting) is found here. If the dedicated elements mentioned before are not HEAVILY side-chained to a bulky/meaty snare, the snare will not pop through in a mix, and you will end up with your 200 - 700hz range starting to become overcrowded, as you may find yourself increasing the snare's volume too much to try to correct for this problem. Side-chaining is very important for this reason. 3.0 Ultra-highs When I talk about ultra-highs, I'm speaking strictly about content above about 10,000 hz. This is an area that few people realize needs as much attention as it does (especially when working with vocals). The trouble here is that most elements when isolated will sound good with this range still left in, but when it's overcrowded, the focal point of the mix starts to disappear. Too many producers tend to want their bass AND their hats AND their pads AND their percussion to have content in this range, but doing so will start to really make your mix seem aimless. To figure out what you want here, try to ask yourself which element you most want your listener to focus on. Most of the time, the focal element of your track is the one you want to be prominent in this range. You don't need to wholly remove everything else, but a few high-shelf EQ's with 3-4db reduction on background elements can make a HUGE difference. 3.5 Ultra-highs The other problem many producers run into in the ultra highs (particularly when using trap samples that can be very high-end intensive) is shrillness. This is an easy problem to solve, and it's even easier to identify when you know to look for it. Basically when something sounds "shrill" or "sharp" it's because there is a small frequency band in the ultra-highs that is much louder than the rest of the frequencies in that range. In a spectral analyzer, it will look like a carrot poking out of the mix _^_ . To solve this problem, simply take an EQ and duck that specific frequency down with a tight Q. Once you duck that frequency down, you'll notice that the sound actually sounds louder, despite the fact that you've actually reduced the volume. Category:Mixing __FORCETOC__